Chapters (110)
- Cover
- ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- PROLOGUE
- I
- II
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- PART TWO
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- PART FOUR
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- EIGHTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Excerpt from LOST RIVER
- LITTLE PARIS
- DILLON
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
WEST FILLED HIM IN on how some of the others from their unit had turned out, some better than others.
“Remember Duran? That fucking little guy? He was from Puerto Rico, right, or at least claimed he was? Anyway, he completely lost his shit somewhere in Mississippi. They’re calling it that ‘death by cop’ thing. He goaded those boys in blue into putting him down right in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven. His girlfriend was there, holding their baby. He’d been going to the VA, talking to a counselor, getting meds and all that shit, but nothing was helping. He couldn’t see straight anymore, if you know what I mean.”
And Danny did, more than West would ever know. Danny remembered Duran. He’d been a funny guy, always trying to quit smoking but never quite getting there. The sort of guy who had a joke for everything. They’d been together at both Rumnar and Wanat, and Danny didn’t recall him having any issues on deployment. But then again, Danny hadn’t, either.
Danny wondered if Duran ever quit smoking.
“What about you?” Danny made a small motion toward West’s heart, then his head. “How’s it been, since . . . ?”
“Since we got back? Oh, it’s been okay, I guess.” West was arranging their empty Lone Stars in soldier-straight lines on the table. “It’s hard now and then. My temper. I get angry over shit I don’t even remember getting angry about. I don’t get physical, nothing like that, but it sure drives Letty crazy. She’s threatened once or twice to leave, but we always work it out. One of her brothers stopped me on my way to the base, pulled his piece-of-shit Mustang right in front of my ride, and told me if I raised my voice at her one more time, he’d drive me over the bridge to Juárez and fucking bury my ass there. Said no one would ever find me, and I kinda believed him. I think he’s a straight-up gang member. Barrio Azteca. Got these tattoos all over him, right up to his neck. Scary, scary shit.” West stopped, took a drink of a half-filled beer. “It is what it is.”
“You talk to anyone about it?”
West laughed. “Talk to someone? About a short fuse? Fuck all that, look at what talking did for Duran.”
“No, I’m serious. Maybe you should. Hell, maybe we both should.”
West looked at him closely. “What do you mean? You dealing with some shit, too?”